"Take me out to the ball game, take me out to the crowd…"

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum 10-10-2012 (ALDS Game 4)

Back at the Coliseum for another round of Athletics baseball! On Tuesday, I was only able to snag one baseball. I was hoping for a little magic during BP today, but alas, that really didn’t happen. I only snagged one baseball again, and here’s how it played out.

As soon as I ran inside the Coliseum, I saw this:

I thought for sure I’d get a toss-up. I knew the majority of the Tigers pitching staff, so I quickly switched out my hats to my Detroit one and ran down to the railing. I pulled my camera back and out and snapped this photo…

…do you see the Tigers player directly in line with me? Okay, look just beyond him to his throwing partner. See how he’s in motion to throw the ball? Well, as soon as I pocketed my camera, the ball came wheeling right for me. At the time, I didn’t even have my glove on to make a clean catch. But what made it worse was, the player directly in front of me made sort of a half-attempt to catch the ball. When he did, the ball glanced off his glove which gave me even less time to react, so all I could do was turn my shoulder and I took a hit nearly right between my shoulder blades. The only thing on my mind was to locate that ball. I heard it clang around in the seats and then I heard it rolling away. Possibly down some steps. But it went absolutely no where. The ball stayed in the aisle I was standing in and rolled just behind my feet:

Tada! No, the ball didn’t roll into my glove…I placed it there so I could gather myself up. It’s pretty scary to be hit with a baseball or have one coming directly at you and not have any time to react to it. And this wasn’t the first time I was hit with a baseball. Last year, at Safeco Field, I took a Cj Wilson fast ball to the inside of my thigh. Luckily, it didn’t hit me an inch farther in or I’d probably be missing a certain part of me, if you catch my drift.

The rest of batting practice was pretty much a bust and so was the game. I had standing room only tickets like last nights outing so I knew I’d be really limited to where I could go. I tried to stay down in the lower seating bowl the whole time, you know, walking around, talking with random people, but eventually the security guards sniffed me out and started asking me for my ticket when they saw me. I saved them the trouble and told them I had SRO tickets and I was on my way up the concourse to the upper seating area. And that was pretty much it. I had to watch the game from places like this…

…and again, it absolutely sucked. I guess I shouldn’t really be complaining though. I only paid like, $45 bucks for one ticket. So whatever. I did however sneak down after the game to the A’s dugout to see this happen:

No, that’s not a picture I took. The crowd was so crazy down by the dugout, people were shoving, and laughing, and jumping all around, and hugging each other, I couldn’t get my camera still enough to catch a good picture of what was happening. At one point in time, some random dude took my A’s hat off, kissed it, and slapped it back on my head! I was so awesome to be in the mix with people who genuinely loved their team! Even though I’ve been to a handful of A’s games with crowds as low as 9,000, this place had 36,000 of the best fans in baseball. And Section 149 was just going nuts!

Anyway, I left soon after and headed back to my hotel room. On the way back, all I heard was “LET’S GO OAK-LAND” chants all the way through downtown. It still gives me goosebumps just thinking of my trip to Oakland.

Total dollars raised for Snagging Baseballs for Puppies this season: $100.78

Total dollars raised for Snagging Baseballs for Puppies last season: $257.00

Total number of donors this season: 9

Total number of donors last season: 7

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My MLBlog centered on the Miami Marlins, serving up all the latest news and analysis, triumphs and perils of the team. Steve Miller is a lifelong Marlins fan from Fredericksburg, Virginia, who frequents Nationals Park. Follow him through this blog as he chronicles the Marlins as well as his personal baseball experiences.

Thought processes and conversations started under the tilted cap of Tropicana Field. Someday everyone will know the Rays play in St. Petersburg, Florida, not TAMPA, or the fictitious city of TAMPA BAY.